After weeks of fighting, which involved massacres of Afro-Cubans by the Cuban National Army led by General Jesus Monteagudo [es] and a U.S. military intervention to protect American companies, the rebellion was put down.

The leaders of the Afro-Cuban rebels, Evaristo Estenoz [es; eu] and Pedro Ivonnet, were killed during the rebellion and their political movement, The Independent Party of Color, was dissolved.

Under the leadership of Estenoz, the party quickly gained the support of a large number of Afro-Cubans in opposition to Cuban President José Miguel Gómez.

In early 1912, the United States government sent a detachment of 688 US Marines, officers and enlisted men, to Guantanamo Bay Naval Base because Estenoz and his followers were preparing a rebellion.

The President also invoked the image of a "raped teacher" which turned out to be from a fake news story from a conservative newspaper.

The conservative newspaper "El Dia" argued that Cuba should copy Jim Crow Laws in the United States where "blacks are mistreated and society is segregated" concluding that "dominated races do submit".

The racial demagoguery angered Juan Gualberto Gomez, former Cuban independence leader, so much that he published a manifesto condemning it.

In June Estenoz rapidly began losing control of his territory to the Cuban military, which was dispersing large bands of the rebels and bystanders.

The most important faction was that of Pedro Ivonnet, who led his forces into the mountains to wage a guerrilla war, but he was driven out by the middle of July.

[10] Following Ivonnet's surrender, Gómez announced that the American Marines were no longer needed and they began to withdraw, first to the naval base at Guantanamo and then to stations in the United States.